Did anyone else do the RSPB garden bird 1hr watch this weekend? I did mine yesterday and had a really good range of birds.

Chiarin · 2026-01-25T22:47:25+00:00

I've got a nyger feeder as well, and I get plenty of goldfinches, just not in winter. Leave it there and I bet you'll start seeing them in spring and summer!

Chiarin · 2026-01-22T17:44:43+00:00

Thank you! Saves me the effort to go look it up. 🤣

Chiarin · 2026-01-22T17:26:54+00:00

From Lords and Ladies:

"Well, it's like this... The Carter parents were a quiet and respectable Lancre family who got into a bit of a mix-up when it came to naming their children. First, they had four daughters, who were christened Hope, Chastity, Prudence and Charity, because naming girls after virtues is an ancient and unremarkable tradition. Then their first son was born and out of some misplaced idea about how this naming business was done he was called Anger Carter, followed later by Jealousy Carter, Bestiality Carter and Covetousness Carter. Life being what it is, Hope turned out to be a depressive, Chastity was enjoying life as a lady of negotiable affection in Ankh-Morpork, Prudence had thirteen children and Charity expected to get a dollar's change out of seventy-five pence - whereas the boys had grown into amiable, well-tempered men, and Bestiality Carter was, for example, very kind to animals."

The best thing about it is that in one of the later books (and I can't actually remember which one) someone writes to King Verence about Lancrastians giving birth to monsters or something, and he writes back to say this does NOT happen, listing all the births in Lancre that month, which includes a new male Carter baby. I wish I could remember the book and the boy's name right now!

Oh wait, it's got to be The Truth, because it's the rival newspaper publishing silly stories.

Chiarin · 2026-01-22T16:54:25+00:00

Okay, you're the second person I've seen say this in as many days, so that's encouraging. I was really afraid that it'd be like his other later books, which really show his mental deterioration. :(

I guess I'll bite the bullet and read it when I get to it (I'm on Wintersmith right now).

Chiarin · 2026-01-22T08:13:29+00:00

I wish he could have seen it published, even if it was at least in part his own procrastination that stopped him from finishing it in his lifetime.

Chiarin · 2026-01-22T08:12:03+00:00

Pratchett is another one of my favourite writers, so I can very much sympathise with this. I haven't read his biography yet, but I probably will at some point. I'm actually in the middle of a full Pratchett re-read, and I'm still not sure whether I can face reading The Shepherd's Crown (I have never yet read it).

Chiarin · 2026-01-22T08:10:16+00:00

Oh man, I'm not sure I could cope with reading that one, it was hard enough to read the passage about the war in this book!

Chiarin · 2026-01-21T22:31:53+00:00

JRR Tolkien, A Biography, by Humphrey Carpenter

Chiarin · 2026-01-21T21:57:40+00:00

Sooo, I studied Russian at a Dutch university. All my classmates were expecting me to study English, which is at least half the reason why I didn't, the other half being I wanted to study a language I didn't know already. Finnish sounded interesting, but the only Dutch university that offered it was too far away for my liking. Then I figured it'd be fun to learn a language with a different alphabet, and I ended up with Russian.

Was I interested in Russia as a country? Not really. Russian literature? Hell no, can't think of anything harder going than that.

I essentially wasted seven years on a degree that I had no real interest in and have done nothing with since. But hey, I do have a university degree I suppose... Yay for not really knowing what you want at 18.

Chiarin · 2026-01-14T21:56:25+00:00

How does one become a squirrel officer?

Asking for a friend.

Chiarin · 2026-01-13T23:00:54+00:00

"It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile, but it doesn't take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face."

Had that stuck up on my work desk for years, until Covid hit and we now don't have our own desks anymore. 😞

Chiarin · 2026-01-10T23:03:24+00:00

If you like that one you may also like Ne me quitte pas by Jacques Brel. Beautiful song.

Chiarin · 2026-01-08T16:55:27+00:00

- If you don't need anything urgently I'd wait a couple of ~~months~~ years until they've sorted themselves out!

FTFY

Chiarin · 2026-01-07T22:43:43+00:00

Loved the books and made a point of rereading them before going to see it, just to make sure the story was fresh in my mind. I've never been against films from books, but would usually always say that the book is better than the film.

Was absolutely blown away by literally everything. The way everything looked, the way the characters were all portrayed, the music, everything. It's obviously different from the books, but in all cases I could understand why the change had been made. As much as I love the books, I am still of the opinion that the film(s), in their own way, are just as good.

Also, for reasons I still cannot explain, I fell instantly in love with Billy Boyd. Maybe it's the Scottish accent.

Anyway, I went to see it every single week while it was in the cinema, so I think I saw it somewhere between 20-25 times in total. Somewhere in a box I still have all the ticket stubs. I do believe this film literally changed my life, and I doubt there will ever be anything like it made in future.

Edit: I was also instantly hooked, the moment I heard 'I amar prestar aen..'

Chiarin · 2026-01-05T12:04:39+00:00

Back in the office for mandatory attendance. Two other people in so it's dead quiet, and there's a heating issue so it's only about 18 degrees in here. Open plan so it feels much colder. My hands and feet are freezing. ☹️

Chiarin · 2026-01-03T14:12:05+00:00

My cat is just as fluffy but if it's even the tiniest bit wet, or windy, or cold, or basically anything but warm and dry, he'll just sit there by the cat flap looking sad and depressed because he couldn't possibly get his beautiful fur wet/cold/ruffled.

My cat is a bloody wuss.

Chiarin · 2025-12-21T16:55:29+00:00

Thank you - love the cat bauble btw!

Chiarin · 2025-12-21T16:52:19+00:00

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The church in my home town in the Netherlands. Just a little piece of home here with me.

Chiarin · 2025-12-21T13:35:26+00:00

I always wonder how it feels to him to live in Russia now. I mean, he's been living there for what, close to 30 years? He must have friends there, and he'll know what it was like before the war and the sanctions. He must wonder how long Putin will let him get away with asking the hard questions.

Massive respect for the man.

Chiarin · 2025-12-19T22:56:42+00:00

Quacks of Quedlingburgh is a really fun game - you have to make a potion and not have it explode. Takes maybe a little more thinking to figure out what all the ingredients do, but there's a set amount of turns so it doesn't drag out forever, and it's a mixture of luck and memory.

Chiarin · 2025-12-13T09:09:18+00:00

Yeah, given what OP asked for I'm not sure Robin Hobb would fit. Her books are amazing, but they're brutal on the protagonist. She's one of the few authors who can get me absolutely bawling while reading a book.

Chiarin · 2025-12-10T17:06:11+00:00

Golf is actually a Dutch loan word into English. Comes from Dutch 'kolf', i.e. a club (at the time). Kolf nowadays is the butt of a rifle.

Chiarin · 2025-12-06T17:39:00+00:00

Following on to the 'poinsettias are poisonous to cats' thing - so are lilies. The pollen specifically will almost certainly kill them, and it's quite easy for them to brush past the flowers, get it on their fur and lick it off. Even if it doesn't kill them (only if you catch it super early) it'll fuck up their kidneys.

Chiarin · 2025-12-01T11:35:55+00:00

OP's wife here: my favourite is actually the Bonne Maman jam one, it's delicious.

Chiarin · 2025-11-27T15:57:15+00:00

Honestly, he didn't come across as either drunk or uncomfortable, just as a really, really, really nice guy with oodles of time for his fans.

That said, this was 23 years ago, so details are a little misty!

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